Unperfect Fairytale by DemonMiko
~*~Chapter 8~*~
Inuyasha leaped silently from tree to tree until he was right behind Yura and Kikyo. He was well hidden in a thick tree so he didn't have to worry about being found. Mei momentarily reappeared in the same tree. The two in front of them started talking once they were sure there was no one else around.
"Yura do we have everything?" Kikyo asked firmly.
"Not quite Kikyo. We still need two more things." Yura said with her hands on her hip.
Kikyo's eyes narrowed, "Which two items?"
"The hair from the heir and his one current love." Yura replied calmly. "They're no big deal. We can just get them later on. The tricky part is to somehow get three long strands without them noticing. The only problem is who his love is. It could be either of those mikos. Kagome doesn't seem to like him that much but he seems to like her and Mei likes to talk to him quite frequently."
A wicked smile appeared on Kikyo's face, "The strands from the heir won't be hard. I'll just sweet-talk him. It's those mikos you have to watch out for. He likes to talk with all of them a lot."
"He never seems to pay attention to you." Yura pointed out.
"That's why I stole this potion from the stupid miko's purse." Kikyo held out a small lotus flower jar. "Inside is a powerful love potion, if I'm not mistaken. We just need to finish gathering all the ingredients to complete it."
Back in the tree Mei began to seethe. She whispered to Inuyasha, "I don't know how but she got a hold of my potion. I was pretty sure I lost it on the voyage over here. Why that."
"Shut up!" Inuyasha hissed.
"But."
"Shut up."
Mei slipped her ring back on and leapt down to the ground. She tiptoed beside Kikyo and lifted up the lotus flower jar from her purse. Kikyo was turned the other way facing Yura so she didn't notice. Mei slid her jar into her purse and went back to the tree.
Kikyo reached a hand behind her to get the jar but it wasn't there. A worried look crossed her face.
"What is it?" Yura asked. "Did you loose the jar?"
"Yes, I think I dropped it."
"Wouldn't it break if you dropped it?"
"Shut up and help me find it!" Kikyo snapped.
After a while of searching they pronounced it 'lost' and left the clearing. Kikyo was fuming all the way out.
They stayed silent for a few minutes until they were sure that Kikyo and Yura weren't coming back. When they finally leaped out of the tree Inuyasha looked at Mei as if wanting an explanation.
"What?" Mei asked after a while of silence.
"What's in that lotus flower? Is it a love potion?"
Mei shifted her gaze around for a while before saying, "I can tell you that it isn't a love potion but I can't tell you exactly that what it is. Not even Kagome and Sango know about what is in this jar. I told them that it was a face powder."
Inuyasha looked confused, "You don't wear face powder."
"I know that and so did Kagome and Sango. So I told them it was saved for important events."
"So what's in the jar?" He asked again.
She shook her head, "I'm sorry but no. I came to give you information on Kagome, not so you could find out my secret. I can't tell you until after I tell them."
Inuyasha reluctantly let the subject go, "What can you tell me about Kagome this time?"
"Well I can tell you that her birthday will be in three weeks. She loves pastries, and archery sets as you already know, and. Wait a minute, you didn't collect your prize yet."
He shrugged, "I'm waiting to collect that wager. "
"I don't want to know. Well, if we were back home the Queen would throw Kagome a large birthday feast on the evening of her birthday. Usually before the feast, the three of us would go riding through the meadows and the forest and by the streams. Then we would go swimming in our favorite lake. On our way back to the castle we would race one another and the winner would get something from the other two. But that would only happen if we were back home."
Inuyasha thought about it for a while. Once or twice he almost said something but shut his mouth again. Finally after Mei dipped her feet into the cool lake water for a good half hour he spoke, "There is a way that we could do that. Only instead of a feast we would have to have a ball. Sorry, it's Mother's policy on birthdays. Wait, aren't Kikyo and Kagome twins? Why don't they have the same birthday?"
"Um. well. I. um." She trailed off into silent thinking. 'Think!' She told herself.
"Kagome wanted her birthday to be the day of her Naming Ceremony. She wanted to be different from Kikyo." She thanked herself for coming up with such a good reason.
"Right, so what day is Kikyo's birthday?"
"We celebrated her birthday before we left on this journey."
He nodded slightly. Then he looked up towards the sky. "I think we should be getting back, it's getting late."
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Kagome breathed a breath of relief when she felt Mei's aura again. She and Shippo had decided that Mei would be fine. So they went shopping around for a bit.
'Boy is she going to get an ear-full when she gets back here.' Kagome promised herself.
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Sango felt slightly bad about knocking out Miroku so she watched him to make sure he was fine. She just soaked another one of her handkerchiefs and knelt down to apply it to his head. As soon as she did she knew it was a mistake. His hand wandered to where it didn't belong.
"Miroku, I'm giving you until the count of five to get your damn hand off my ass."
"One."
Miroku didn't move.
"Two."
He still didn't move.
She was getting ticked, "FIVE!"
She slapped him over the head with her fist. This time he got up.
"What was that for?" He asked while snatching the damp cloth from Sango and pressing it to his head.
"Your hands were in places they don't belong."
Before he could yell in response, they saw Yura and Kikyo emerge from the forest a bit farther downstream.
"Isn't that.?" Miroku began.
"Yeah, it's Yura and Kikyo. So what were they doing in the forest?"
They turned in the other direction and headed in the direction of the palace.
"I can tell you." A new voice cut in.
"Mei!" Sango yelled. When she turned around she was surprised to find her riding on Inuyasha's back. "What are you doing?"
Inuyasha set Mei down and went off to find Kagome and Shippo.
"Oh, when I left you guys, I thought I felt a faint demon aura so I followed it. I didn't want you guys to worry so I just left quietly. It led into the forest so I went in and after a bit of time I turned back and then I got my foot caught in these nearly hidden roots and I twisted my ankle. It doesn't hurt much now though. Then Inuyasha found me a little bit later and helped me out. He was probably the aura I felt earlier. Besides, I saw Kikyo and Yura. I had to know what they were doing so I followed them." She said. 'Well at least the part about twisting my ankle was true.' She thought to herself.
"MEI! SANGO!" They heard a voice call out. Kagome leaped off Inuyasha's back and ran towards Mei. "Are you OK? What happened? Where'd you go earlier? Why?"
She told Kagome the same thing she told Sango. When she finished Kagome looked mortified.
"So you can't walk?" Shippo asked from Kagome's shoulder.
Sadly, Mei shook her head, "Not for at least two weeks. I've done this to myself before." She relaxed. 'At least they forgot about Kikyo.'
"Well," Sango began, "first things first, we have to get her back to the palace."
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Queen Madoka's first reaction to Mei was exactly what a mother would do. She started asking question after question.
"What happened? Where? What where you doing? Why?"
Inuyasha soothed his mother, "Mother, please. Leave her alone."
"Please ma'am. Mei needs her rest." Kagome reasoned.
Madoka reluctantly let Sango and Kagome take Mei to her room.
After they placed Mei on her bed they didn't leave. Instead they sat down on the end of her bed.
"Why where you with Inuyasha?" Kagome demanded.
"Yeah, and why didn't you tell us why Kikyo and Yura were in the forest?" Sango added.
"Ok." She hesitated. 'What am I going to say?' She tried again, "I told you guys that I felt an aura so I followed it into the forest. After a while I lost the aura so I turned back. Then, right before I twisted by ankle, I saw Kikyo and Yura so I leapt up onto a tree branch. They were talking about a spell of some sort that included 'a hair from the heir and his current love'. Do you have any idea what kind of spell that would be?" Mei slyly changed the subject.
Kagome seemed confused. "A spell?"
"That is what it sounds like." Sango said.
"We'll do research on this and you'll rest." Kagome told Mei.
Mei looked cross. "There is no way I'm laying on this bed for two weeks. I have a way I can get around. Just a small transportation scroll that I used last time I did this to myself. I am going to help you guys with this too."
"No. You are going to relax for two weeks." Sango said firmly.
'Not if I can help it.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope you guys liked this chappie. Well, I found some extra time to write because I'm feeling a little under the weather. Anyway, school's been great and thanks to all of your support.
Shira is going to be in the next one and so will a new Mei. That's just to leave all of you in suspense. ^_^
Remember to review! It's very easy: just click the button on the bottom of the page. ^^
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~Chapter 8~*~
Inuyasha leaped silently from tree to tree until he was right behind Yura and Kikyo. He was well hidden in a thick tree so he didn't have to worry about being found. Mei momentarily reappeared in the same tree. The two in front of them started talking once they were sure there was no one else around.
"Yura do we have everything?" Kikyo asked firmly.
"Not quite Kikyo. We still need two more things." Yura said with her hands on her hip.
Kikyo's eyes narrowed, "Which two items?"
"The hair from the heir and his one current love." Yura replied calmly. "They're no big deal. We can just get them later on. The tricky part is to somehow get three long strands without them noticing. The only problem is who his love is. It could be either of those mikos. Kagome doesn't seem to like him that much but he seems to like her and Mei likes to talk to him quite frequently."
A wicked smile appeared on Kikyo's face, "The strands from the heir won't be hard. I'll just sweet-talk him. It's those mikos you have to watch out for. He likes to talk with all of them a lot."
"He never seems to pay attention to you." Yura pointed out.
"That's why I stole this potion from the stupid miko's purse." Kikyo held out a small lotus flower jar. "Inside is a powerful love potion, if I'm not mistaken. We just need to finish gathering all the ingredients to complete it."
Back in the tree Mei began to seethe. She whispered to Inuyasha, "I don't know how but she got a hold of my potion. I was pretty sure I lost it on the voyage over here. Why that."
"Shut up!" Inuyasha hissed.
"But."
"Shut up."
Mei slipped her ring back on and leapt down to the ground. She tiptoed beside Kikyo and lifted up the lotus flower jar from her purse. Kikyo was turned the other way facing Yura so she didn't notice. Mei slid her jar into her purse and went back to the tree.
Kikyo reached a hand behind her to get the jar but it wasn't there. A worried look crossed her face.
"What is it?" Yura asked. "Did you loose the jar?"
"Yes, I think I dropped it."
"Wouldn't it break if you dropped it?"
"Shut up and help me find it!" Kikyo snapped.
After a while of searching they pronounced it 'lost' and left the clearing. Kikyo was fuming all the way out.
They stayed silent for a few minutes until they were sure that Kikyo and Yura weren't coming back. When they finally leaped out of the tree Inuyasha looked at Mei as if wanting an explanation.
"What?" Mei asked after a while of silence.
"What's in that lotus flower? Is it a love potion?"
Mei shifted her gaze around for a while before saying, "I can tell you that it isn't a love potion but I can't tell you exactly that what it is. Not even Kagome and Sango know about what is in this jar. I told them that it was a face powder."
Inuyasha looked confused, "You don't wear face powder."
"I know that and so did Kagome and Sango. So I told them it was saved for important events."
"So what's in the jar?" He asked again.
She shook her head, "I'm sorry but no. I came to give you information on Kagome, not so you could find out my secret. I can't tell you until after I tell them."
Inuyasha reluctantly let the subject go, "What can you tell me about Kagome this time?"
"Well I can tell you that her birthday will be in three weeks. She loves pastries, and archery sets as you already know, and. Wait a minute, you didn't collect your prize yet."
He shrugged, "I'm waiting to collect that wager. "
"I don't want to know. Well, if we were back home the Queen would throw Kagome a large birthday feast on the evening of her birthday. Usually before the feast, the three of us would go riding through the meadows and the forest and by the streams. Then we would go swimming in our favorite lake. On our way back to the castle we would race one another and the winner would get something from the other two. But that would only happen if we were back home."
Inuyasha thought about it for a while. Once or twice he almost said something but shut his mouth again. Finally after Mei dipped her feet into the cool lake water for a good half hour he spoke, "There is a way that we could do that. Only instead of a feast we would have to have a ball. Sorry, it's Mother's policy on birthdays. Wait, aren't Kikyo and Kagome twins? Why don't they have the same birthday?"
"Um. well. I. um." She trailed off into silent thinking. 'Think!' She told herself.
"Kagome wanted her birthday to be the day of her Naming Ceremony. She wanted to be different from Kikyo." She thanked herself for coming up with such a good reason.
"Right, so what day is Kikyo's birthday?"
"We celebrated her birthday before we left on this journey."
He nodded slightly. Then he looked up towards the sky. "I think we should be getting back, it's getting late."
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Kagome breathed a breath of relief when she felt Mei's aura again. She and Shippo had decided that Mei would be fine. So they went shopping around for a bit.
'Boy is she going to get an ear-full when she gets back here.' Kagome promised herself.
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Sango felt slightly bad about knocking out Miroku so she watched him to make sure he was fine. She just soaked another one of her handkerchiefs and knelt down to apply it to his head. As soon as she did she knew it was a mistake. His hand wandered to where it didn't belong.
"Miroku, I'm giving you until the count of five to get your damn hand off my ass."
"One."
Miroku didn't move.
"Two."
He still didn't move.
She was getting ticked, "FIVE!"
She slapped him over the head with her fist. This time he got up.
"What was that for?" He asked while snatching the damp cloth from Sango and pressing it to his head.
"Your hands were in places they don't belong."
Before he could yell in response, they saw Yura and Kikyo emerge from the forest a bit farther downstream.
"Isn't that.?" Miroku began.
"Yeah, it's Yura and Kikyo. So what were they doing in the forest?"
They turned in the other direction and headed in the direction of the palace.
"I can tell you." A new voice cut in.
"Mei!" Sango yelled. When she turned around she was surprised to find her riding on Inuyasha's back. "What are you doing?"
Inuyasha set Mei down and went off to find Kagome and Shippo.
"Oh, when I left you guys, I thought I felt a faint demon aura so I followed it. I didn't want you guys to worry so I just left quietly. It led into the forest so I went in and after a bit of time I turned back and then I got my foot caught in these nearly hidden roots and I twisted my ankle. It doesn't hurt much now though. Then Inuyasha found me a little bit later and helped me out. He was probably the aura I felt earlier. Besides, I saw Kikyo and Yura. I had to know what they were doing so I followed them." She said. 'Well at least the part about twisting my ankle was true.' She thought to herself.
"MEI! SANGO!" They heard a voice call out. Kagome leaped off Inuyasha's back and ran towards Mei. "Are you OK? What happened? Where'd you go earlier? Why?"
She told Kagome the same thing she told Sango. When she finished Kagome looked mortified.
"So you can't walk?" Shippo asked from Kagome's shoulder.
Sadly, Mei shook her head, "Not for at least two weeks. I've done this to myself before." She relaxed. 'At least they forgot about Kikyo.'
"Well," Sango began, "first things first, we have to get her back to the palace."
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _
Queen Madoka's first reaction to Mei was exactly what a mother would do. She started asking question after question.
"What happened? Where? What where you doing? Why?"
Inuyasha soothed his mother, "Mother, please. Leave her alone."
"Please ma'am. Mei needs her rest." Kagome reasoned.
Madoka reluctantly let Sango and Kagome take Mei to her room.
After they placed Mei on her bed they didn't leave. Instead they sat down on the end of her bed.
"Why where you with Inuyasha?" Kagome demanded.
"Yeah, and why didn't you tell us why Kikyo and Yura were in the forest?" Sango added.
"Ok." She hesitated. 'What am I going to say?' She tried again, "I told you guys that I felt an aura so I followed it into the forest. After a while I lost the aura so I turned back. Then, right before I twisted by ankle, I saw Kikyo and Yura so I leapt up onto a tree branch. They were talking about a spell of some sort that included 'a hair from the heir and his current love'. Do you have any idea what kind of spell that would be?" Mei slyly changed the subject.
Kagome seemed confused. "A spell?"
"That is what it sounds like." Sango said.
"We'll do research on this and you'll rest." Kagome told Mei.
Mei looked cross. "There is no way I'm laying on this bed for two weeks. I have a way I can get around. Just a small transportation scroll that I used last time I did this to myself. I am going to help you guys with this too."
"No. You are going to relax for two weeks." Sango said firmly.
'Not if I can help it.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope you guys liked this chappie. Well, I found some extra time to write because I'm feeling a little under the weather. Anyway, school's been great and thanks to all of your support.
Shira is going to be in the next one and so will a new Mei. That's just to leave all of you in suspense. ^_^
Remember to review! It's very easy: just click the button on the bottom of the page. ^^
~*~*~*~*~*~*~